Remaking Miller

The first true megacity mayor, Miller did more for the suburbs than his predecessor ever did.

Forget the dailies. History will be kind to Mayor David Miller. The sparks of axe-grinders will quickly fade, while the enhancements he made to city life will just become clearer with time.

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Miller also did us a more immediate favour: he showed what gets done to progressive politicians who dare hold their heads high.

As portrayed by major news outlets, Miller is sort of a meddlesome time traveller, responsible for CUPE's sick-day bank from the 1950s as well as 1834 provincial regulations that mostly still saddle Ontario cities. It was he who stopped Mel Lastman and his predecessors from investing in transit over several decades and caused a public servants strike - from inside the unions' pocket.

When Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby stepped down from Miller's executive committee on Monday, she explained her decision by saying, "You go to Swiss Chalet and you've got all this hot stuff and then they say, ‘Would you like a plastic bag? That's another five cents.'?"

This is her complaint against the mayor? It's hard being Gloria Lindsay Luby. Sometimes, amidst the bustle of modern life, we forget that. Tell you what, Gloria, I'll send you 5 cents every time you decline to speak to the press. That way, everyone breaks even: you can afford that plastic bag, but we still cut down on pollution.

What's worse, an elected official equating a minor surcharge on a bag with the decline of municipal governance - or a major newspaper reporting the nickel fee as proof that "the average citizen bears the brunt" of Miller's legacy?

Yes, the budget grew by several hundred million under Miller. Most of this was for transit, and much of that unprecedented investment from senior governments was largely for the burbs. Yet the mayor faced charges that he was too downtown.

Miller was, in fact, the first true megacity mayor, doing more for the suburbs than Lastman ever did. Finally there's a plan for urban rapid transit. Resources, many through the maligned arts budget, are finding their way to suburban youth at risk. And, the Tower Renewal program, may help some northern 'hoods become jewels of a new urbanism.

Still, the mayor's goals were modest, measured and immensely reasonable - to a fault. He and his supporters assumed people would welcome plans stated plainly and pursued transparently. And many did. But Miller's opponents got an assist from media happy to rile up taxpayers like barbarians at the gates.

Miller relied on subtle wrangling to deal with Toronto's chronic budget shortfall and with a province that has a (literally) provincial mindset about revenue, and reorganized the bureaucracy to get things done. It's hard to make that a sexy lead.

His funding of services through a land transfer tax was tantamount to wealth redistribution. In recessionary times, he resisted privatization. To certain influential people, this was unconscionable. The lefty had to go. So our populist mayor got taken down by a media populism that cut across the Toronto dailies' supposed ideological rainbow. (You know, a Sun is technically a Star. Just saying.)

But we'd all do well to look away from the post-mortem microscope and remember that his victories weren't his alone. This city struck out, cautiously, on a sustainable path, and it took tens of thousands of people to help Miller become the symbol of this change.

Don't forget that. Don't forget the rest of those seats on council. Don't forget your neighbourhood. And if you ever found any inspiration at any point during the last six years, don't forget that either.

As I say, forget the dailies. They're on the way out, too, and they know it.